Chapter 34: Mending Wounds

Inuyasha grunted from his perch on top of the shrine's Torii gates. "So now what? They just go back to how they were before Kagome got all broken hearted and time jumped?"

"I don't think it's that simple Dad," Ume responded, crouching next to him. "According to all the drama novels I've read, they have to work out their problems first and then they can live happily ever after."

Inuyasha frowned at her words. "Since when do you read drama novels? Aren't you too young to be reading that kind of crap?"

"I'm almost fifteen Dad!" A quick whack on top of her head was the ill-tempered father's response. "Ow!"

"Watch your tone when you talk to me brat."

"Heh…." Ume glared at him while rubbing her sore spot. "I was just saying how Ojisama and Kagome-chan are getting along now…."

"But the question is, how long is that gonna last?" Inuyasha muttered to himself, taking a quick glance behind him into the house where the two former lovers were visibly occupying the living room, the glass doors open enabling him to hear the two converse in an old tongue.

Her pointed ears working under her knit cap, Ume frowned when she didn't understand what they were saying. "What language are they speaking Dad?"

"Inu." He replied immediately turning back around. "Hopefully, they'll be done in time for New Year's."

"When can we go back inside?" Ume whined next, tucking her hands in her coat pockets. "They've been talking for three hours…."

"Keh. You heard jackass, no one's allowed to talk to his oh so precious Kagome until he's had a chance to catch her up on everything."

Ume looked confused. "He's telling her everything?"

Inuyasha chuckled. "Well, maybe not everything," He amended. Giving a wide yawn, the half demon handed his red scarf over to his shivering daughter who gratefully accepted it, the sounds of the New Year's celebration in the nearby town reaching the two demons. "You sure you don't wanna go find Kaede and your Mama, there's probably a tea stand or something in the village."

Ume wrinkled her nose cutely at the idea. "I don't want all the smells to knock me out like that time at the perfume shop."

"Fine brat," He said, snorting. "Just remember if you freeze to death…."

"You'll bury me in the woods and tell Mama a wild animal got me," She finished for him, rolling her eyes at her father's bad joke.

"Keh. At least you know."

He hadn't intended for their conversation to last this long. Sitting next to Kagome on the large couch, Sesshomaru in his demonic form nodded in response to a question she'd just asked.

"People were angry when I left the castle?"

"Grandfather was distraught of course, but that was mostly because he lost his best Shogi opponent." He said with a smile grin.

"Hey, I was more than just his Shogi partner!"

"Yes," Sesshomaru agreed, "There was also Go, Iransi, Checkers…."

"I beat him in just about everything," Kagome said, a smile crossing her face as she remembered those moments. "I can't believe he's been dead for so long…."

"He passed only about a decade after you left….I believe he was ready to go to the afterlife."

Kagome sighed suddenly at his words and sensing her discomfort moved closer to her on the couch, "What is it?"

"Myoga….the day I time jumped, he said that Shin'ichi had men looking for me….along with your father's subordinates…."

"You took a valuable piece of information Kagome…." Sesshomaru pointed out, frowning because he was forced to talk to the top of her head due to her looking down rather than at him. "What did you expect to happen?"

"Taisho-dono was so adamant on capturing me, almost like I was a criminal."

"You abandoned your station, and defected from the West, Grandfather was determined to get to you first because had father's men found you, there's no doubt in my mind you would have been killed on sight."

Kagome growled. "That damn book…."

Sesshomaru treaded cautiously. "It took over your mind."

"I know." She said, threading her fingers through her hair. "But I saw so much death when Onigumo summoned that creature."

"We agreed not to speak of that unless absolutely necessary."

The demoness sat up at his reminder. "But we also agreed that it was something we couldn't keep covered up!"

"Kagome…."

"I been living in the dark for two centuries, I can't keep blocking out what I don't want to deal with." Saying this she scooted closer to Sesshomaru so that their knees were almost touching, sighing when he stiffened considerably at her forwardness. "And there's things we need to deal with." Reaching up, she boldly placed her hand on the collar of his dress shirt, lightly running her fingers along the area.

A noticeable red hue tinted the sides of Sesshomaru's face at the action and he briefly wondered what he should do in return. They hadn't been together sexually in over eight hundred years and he was for lack of a better word; rusty in the area of physical pleasure. Feeling her hand reach inside his shirt, the demon rumbled and tried to think of something to do that wouldn't scare her off. His own larger paw was about to reach out and touch her knee when she suddenly pulled back and he felt the chain of his necklace rubbing against his neck, the pendant he had taken from her earlier flashing brightly in her palm. "What…."

"You said you lost this years ago," Kagome muttered, examining the object with a curious gaze.

"Yes…." He answered slowly, still unsure of what had just occurred. Hadn't she been touching him in a sexual manner? Did he misread her movements? Had it really been that long since he'd last been with a woman?

"Sorry." She muttered and before he could respond gave the pendant an impatient tug, causing the silver chain to snap and the entire necklace to wind up in her hand.

Confused and agitated Sesshomaru snatched his pendant back and growled under his breath when she attempted to grab it again. "Have you forgotten proper etiquette in the last few centuries?"

"Proper….etiquette?" She repeated, appearing innocent.

"You don't just pull something off someone's person, you ask first!" He snapped, astounded by her response to his anger. Her answer once again threw him off.

"You didn't use to care…."

"What!"

"I used to take stuff from you all the time, you never minded." She clarified, her eyes clearly revealing her confusion at his reaction to her behavior. "Don't you remember?"

"Kagome that was my fish!"

"Whada oh car, oh ave hree mumph!" She mumbled back through a mouth full of trout, pointing to the three similar pieces that were still cooking over the fire pit.

"Just keep it…."

And just like that, they were seven hundred years in the past, Kagome's expression reminding the dog demon of happier times in his life. "We aren't children anymore," He whispered, still seeing the demoness in front of him as a seventeen-year-old.

"We weren't children to begin with," She replied, a bit weirded out by the way he was staring at her. "Nothing we did was child's play, and Onigumo…." The name must have brought him back to reality because the demon blinked and growled in warning for her to back off but she persisted. "Onigumo," She said again with a harder edge.

"Was a fool," He barked.

"He wasn't a fool, he was overambitious."

Sesshomaru scoffed and turned away from her.

Now it was her turn to beg him to hear her out. "Sesshomaru…."

"I don't remember my night with Miyako." He suddenly said, refusing to look her in the eye.

Lost, Kagome could only respond with, "Huh?"

"The reason you left," He explained. "I would think that would be what we should discuss, not that lunatic." The necklace he had reclaimed was tightly gripped in his palm. He was obviously uncomfortable but they both knew this was something that needed to happen.

Kagome took a slow deep breath. When she was done she forced herself to push through her anxiety, the pain of his betrayal beginning to return to her heart. "You don't remember sleeping with her because it was so long ago?"

"No," He shook his head to physically express his answer. Turning back to face her, Sesshomaru attempted to convey his own lack of understanding on the night that ultimately ruined his life. "I cannot remember because I was not in my normal state of mind."

Kagome's face turned to a stern expression. "You don't honestly expect me to believe that you were possessed by something." He was one of the strongest people she knew, undoubtedly even more powerful now after the eight hundred years he had lived through. Possession and Sesshomaru just didn't mix in her mind.

"I didn't say I was possessed."

"Then what? An act of witchcraft?"

"I do not know," He confessed making sure to keep direct eye contact with her. "I just know that I didn't lay with her willingly."

She shook her head. "Sesshomaru if you think…."

He interrupted her words, "I promised not to touch her, I made a vow on the blood from my veins, why would I break that knowing what was to happen if I did so?"

"Because either Taisho-sama or Kimi-sama talked you into it," Kagome sniffed, swiping her eyes that were starting to build up with tears. "I was only good enough to be your whore."

The dismissal in her tone finally broke the thin layer of patience the dog demon had been struggling to keep in the last few minutes. Before even he knew what he was doing, his hand had shot out and grabbed her face forcing her to look at him. "You are not my whore." He ground out, the corners of his eyes becoming red. "You are my lover."

Kagome whimpered. "Are?"

A part of his rational mind told him to stop there but his instincts refused, instead telling him to demand she submit. "Yes. Are." He said, putting emphasis on the present tense. "From the moment you gave yourself to me, and no other man has touched you like I have, I refuse to to let you refer to yourself as anything less than my lover."

"But…."

"You are mine." He affirmed, growling as she began to shake in his grasp.

"But you belong to someone else…."

"Never," Sesshomaru said, the red in his eyes moving to surround his sclera.

Kagome's eyes wavered. "Sesshomaru…."

"Oi, am I interrupting you?"

The pair turned towards the open glass doors to see Ume standing at the back entrance with a look of uncertainty, seeing her Uncle's nearly transformed state, the girl squealed and hastily tried to explain herself, "I just really need to pee!"

It took a moment for her brain to catch up, but Kagome managed to pull out of Sesshomaru's hold to answer her. "You didn't interrupt us Ume-chan, go ahead."

Taking a cautious step inside, the girl glanced at her uncle whose eyes were slowly swirling back to their normal hue. "Sorry…." She said again to the man who remained silent while following her movements with his eyes.

Once she turned the corner and was out of sight Sesshomaru let out a huge growl and buried his face in his hands, embarrassed. "Are you okay? " He asked Kagome who was near rigid beside him.

"No," She answered abruptly staring straight ahead. "No, I'm not okay."

"You must forgive me."

"I don't know if I can…," Kagome whispered, her nose twitching with emotion. "I just, I don't understand…."

Sesshomaru leaned his head back against the couch, understanding her words. She wasn't just talking about tonight, she was talking about the last eight hundred years. "Whether you forgive me or not," He said, pausing a moment to let the impact set in, "You can't run away, not again."

Kagome sighed and patted his knee, they had a long way to go, but no matter what she chose to do, running wasn't an option anymore. "I'm not going anywhere this time."

A/N: They've still got ways to go, next chapter will focus on the New Year's Celebration and some more of Naraku. We're really winding down here. Hope you enjoyed. -Theores